


A Lion and a Rooster

by todoroki_fotia



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Galo Thymos needs a hug, I just wanted to write some cute stuff, Lio and Galo live together, M/M, Post-Canon, galo is a loveable idiot, this is very self indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-08
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25136686
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/todoroki_fotia/pseuds/todoroki_fotia
Summary: Galo and Lio were connected, more so then Lio thought he ever could be to a person. He found himself trusting in the man who brought so much joy into his life, so one day when he finds Galo with a dead look in his eyes, his heart shatters.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 10
Kudos: 130





	A Lion and a Rooster

Lio’s never been good at connecting with people, and he knew that. His entire life was a constant state of go, always running away from the people who didn’t understand that the Burnish were human too, and when you’re running away your entire life, you don’t think to befriend a non-Burnish. Even with the Burnish, Lio hated the fact that he barely spoke to anyone outside of Meis and Guierra, but he was afraid to open up to someone who would abandon him. That all changed when he met Galo. Ever since the moment in the cave, Galo - albeit stupid - had a good heart, actually listened to Lio and was willing to change his whole outlook on life. As soon as they met, they connected, wanting to protect each other after barely speaking. So it came as no surprise that after Galo de Lion and saving the world from it’s untimely demise, Galo offered - no, demanded - that Lio lived with him. 

“My apartment's always felt empty anyways, bud, it’s kinda lonely living alone,” was what he said when Lio said he didn’t wanna burden him, “You’d be doing me a favor by living there.”

And so Lio moved in, much to the amusement of Meis and Guiera. Lio barely had any money when he moved in, so Galo bought anything he could possibly need, claiming that Ignis put aside money for him as consolation. Lio knew that was bullshit, but he accepted the gesture anyways, knowing Galo wasn’t going to let him say no. Lio put his foot down, however, only buying the necessities like clothes and toiletries instead of every little thing Galo recommended. He only made an exception when Galo found a stuffed animal of a lion that was pink and blue, proclaiming that it had a strong resemblance to Lio. Lio had just shook his head and rolled his eyes, until Galo found another animal, this one of a rooster of red and blue, which he informed Lio was the meaning of his name. 

“They have both of us as stuffed animals, Lio!” 

His dorky grin was enough for Lio to quietly slip both animals into his cart. Later that night, when Galo was helping him put all of his new clothes into their shared closet, the taller man saw the two stuffed dolls sitting in the bags and his eyes lit up. He grabbed the lion and placed the rooster in Lio’s arms, claiming that now they could protect each other while the other was away. Lio felt his face flush as he tightly held the rooster, and as he saw the smile grow on Galo’s face as he looked at the lion, he decided it was definitely worth it.

They quickly got used to each other, and even though Lio would never admit it, he loved having the firefighter to come home to him after a long day at work, filled with stress from trying to find homes for all of the Burnish. Galo always listened to him talk about his issues, humming along to confirm that he was listening or asking a question if he became lost. Lio especially appreciated how Galo never pushed him too hard to open up, and seemed to always know when to change the conversation. Lio swore to protect Galo from anything that would cause that beautiful smile to fade, which is why this day was so terrifying to him. 

Lio walked into the kitchen, rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes when he saw Galo sitting on the couch. 

“Good morning, Galo,” he spoke as he began to make his coffee. 

“Huh? Oh, morning Lio.” 

Lio froze. He turned around in a little shock, quickly doing a glance over of the man. Nothing was different from normal, so why did Galo seem so dead? The burning firefighter spirit the man always proclaimed he had seemed to be snuffed out. Galo seemed to notice Lio’s discomfort and gave him a small hollow smile. Lio almost shuddered, that was probably the top ten scariest things he’s seen. 

“Who was it,” Lio proclaimed as he crossed his arms, “Who do I need to beat up?”

“W-what?” Galo asked as confusion took over his face. “Lio?”

Wasn’t it obvious? Meis always asked him that when he was upset. “Who hurt you?” 

Galo’s eyes widened, “No one, man! I’m just tired, late at night doing paperwork. That’s just how it is sometimes!”

Lio frowned. He wasn’t convinced but he couldn’t force Galo to tell him anything. “Fine. But you should sleep more, you know, maybe take your own advice?”

Galo swallowed knowing exactly what the smaller man meant. Lio, in the beginning of their move in, was used to constantly waking up from nightmares so he was terrified to fall asleep. One night, he overworked himself till exhaustion, passed out and woke up from a nightmare. Galo had frantically ran in, hearing Lio screaming, and when he finally found out why Lio hadn’t been sleeping, he begged Lio to wake him up and talk to him when the nightmares of his past came. Lio was hesitant at first, so Galo grabbed the blue and red rooster off its space on the shelf and put it next to Lio. “There,” he said smiling softly, “Now I’ll always be here with you and I won’t let a night go by where you don’t sleep! My burning firefighter spirit will keep you warm!” Lio didn’t know how Galo did it, but the nightmares seemed to die down with the rooster by his side and when they did come, he always told Galo, who would refuse to leave the room, and sleep on the floor for the night. Lio always wished that Galo would just sleep in bed with him.

“Yeah, yeah,” Galo’s voice pulled Lio out of his memory. “It’s just a one time thing! Sorry to worry you, man!”

Lio let out a sigh, but turned back to the coffee pot. Galo then awkwardly told Lio he was going to work, and would see him around 7 PM. Lio gave him a small smile in response, which seemed to comfort the other man. Lio sighed as he heard the door close, but instead of worrying too much about Galo, he decided to pour his concern into his work. The ex-burnish worked on paperwork for the rest of the day, doing meetings from the comfort of his own home. The burnish wanted to give a couple weeks for everything to settle down and Lio, being the leader of the Mad Burnish, knew that he had to wait it out, no matter how much he hated it. Lio heard the door open and looked at the clock with a frown, it was only five, Galo couldn’t be back yet. He inched out of the bedroom, grabbing a heavy book to protect himself when he saw Galo and his heart broke.

Galo hadn’t seen Lio yet, so his seemingly cheery facade wasn’t up yet, and the man looked so tired and in pain. Galo let out a small cry as his grip on the photo he was holding tightened. Lio could make out the shape of a single man in the photo and he frowned. Kray Foresight. Galo didn't talk much about Kray, not wanting to bring up bad memories for Lio, but Lio knew how much of an impact Kray had on Galo's life. Even though he barely spoke about his past, Lio could only imagine how hard it was to find out the man who you looked up to your whole life wanted to kill you.

“Galo?” The other man looked up at him wildly, Lio could see how puffy his eyes were, and his heart lurched. That was the final straw. The smaller man felt his body move on it’s on accord, as he sat onto the floor and pulled Galo against him. Galo tensed in his arms, but he slowly relaxed, resting his head against Lio’s chest. 

“You’re not ok,” Lio pointed out, in an almost obvious manner, causing Galo to shift slightly in his arms, “You can stop pretending to be ok, Galo.”

Lio’s words caused the dam to break and Galo felt the tears start cascading down his face. Lio just held onto him tighter, allowing the firefighter to get his emotions out instead of forcing him to talk. The cries died down, turning into shuddering breaths, when Galo spoke, “I’m sorry.”

Lio almost rolled his eyes, “Galo, you do this for me every-”

“No,” His voice wavered, “For everything. I was stupid, I didn’t see what he was doing.”

A frown appeared on Lio’s face, is that what this was about? “You really are an idiot.”

He felt Galo tense back up in his arms, and pushed off Lio’s arms. He began to stand up, “I’m sorry, Lio. I’ll understand if you want to move o-”

“No! Gosh, Galo!” Lio grabbed at Galo’s arm to pull him back down and then took his face in hands forcing Galo to look at him. Lio pushed away the thought of how close he was to Galo, how those beautiful blue eyes stared back at him. “I could never, ever blame you for what happened to the Burnish. You didn’t know. You saved the world, you saved the burnish, you saved me, Galo.” The firefighter’s eyes shut as a tear fell from them, Lio brushed it away with his thumb. “What caused this, Galo?” 

Galo swallowed, “Did you watch the news today?”

Lio shook his head, he stayed away from the news as they usually just spoke badly about the Burnish, well ex-burnish. 

“They picked a date for his trial.” Lio felt the air rush out of him. It hadn’t been long since they saved the world, but for some reason he had just hoped that Kray would stay in jail forever, never to be seen from again. “They interviewed me for the case.” Lio focussed back on the man in front of him, the slight tremble in his voice hard to ignore. “Ignis is trying to change the lawyer, he thinks he's a Kray supporter.”

Lio let out a gasp, “Huh?’

“He took me to see Kray, thought it would ‘jog my memory,’” Galo let out a bitter chuckle. “I don’t think it worked.”

Lio saw red, he wanted to fight the lawyer, Kray and everyone else who hurt Galo. Lio could only imagine with the man would've said to Galo, the doubts that Kray would put in his head. Kray had always been a master at manipulation. Galo noticed his facial expression and gave a small smile, “It’s ok, bud.”

Lio looked at Galo incredulously, “Galo, I should be comforting you right now, not the other way around.” Lio suddenly got an idea. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.” Galo nodded and Lio practically sprinted into his room, grabbing a blanket and some pillows. He then walked into Galo’s room and smiled when he saw what he was looking for. He returned back to Galo, holding up the items. Galo’s eyes lit up at the sight of the lion and rooster in his arms. Lio pulled Galo up to the couch, handing him the lion to hold before pulling Galo into his arms. Lio threw the blanket on top of the two of them and played Galo’s favorite comfort movie on the TV. The two sat in silence for a while, and Lio could tell that Galo wasn’t watching the movie. 

“You’re not worthless, Galo," Lio spoke as he remembered what Kray had told him that day.

“Lio-”

“Shh,” Lio hushed, “I talk, you listen, ok?” A hesitant nod. “Kray didn’t deserve you in his life, Galo. You’re too kind, too charming, too good for a man like him. You took me in when I had nothing, cared for me when I couldn’t deal with myself. Even in the cave, you listened. You listened and then changed your whole life. You always see the good in people, Galo, so why can’t you see the good in yourself?” Lio tightened his arms around Galo. “It’s think it’s impossible for me not to love you, Galo.” Lio muttered the last bit, not expecting Galo to hear, but of course he did.

Galo turned around to face him, “You… you do?”

Lio blushed, “Ever since you calmed me down that day.” 

Galo smiled and pulled Lio closer, the only thing between them being the two stuffed animals, who seemed to be embraced in a manner similar to how they were. “I love you too, Lio Fotia.”

Lio closed the gap between them and their lips touched. Lio held Galo’s face pulling him closer to him, not wanting the moment to end. They had both been waiting for this, a kiss as powerful as the one Galo used to bring him back to life, one that feel like the Promare was burning within Lio again. Eventually, they pulled apart breathlessly, smiling at each other in a manner that could only be described as euphoric. As Galo snuggled closer to him, Lio felt happiness overtake him. He felt alive. 

“You know,” Galo said softly, “I much prefer sleeping with you to sleeping with the lion.” He looked over at the two stuffed animals lying together in the blanket. "But, it looks like they're happier together too."

Lio chuckled, “You really are an idiot, Galo Thymos.” 

Galo laughed in his chest, causing Lio to tighten his grip around the taller man, “Of course, I’m the universe's number one firefighting idiot.” Galo turned his head up to look at him. “But, more importantly, I’m your idiot.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! I don't have friends who have watched Promare, so I thought it would be nice to post it here so some people who have seen the movie could read this! ah, it's my first time actually publishing my work so I hope you enjoyed it! Stay safe everyone!!


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